WESTON 2009 - A MAD DAY AT THE BEACH!
By TMX Archives on 6th Oct 09
The Weston Beach Race is practically an institution, which must mean the entrants are as good as institutionalised too. That's probably a fair appraisal given just how tough this event is. Any race that asks 1000 riders to battle a three-and-a-half mile deep sand course, including a flat-out sprint down the beach and a return over countless dunes, for three long gruelling hours, borders on the insane.
And clearly that's the attraction. Last year, including the sidecars, the quads and the youth classes, there were some 2100 entries for the beach races and almost 100,000 fans came to watch the spectacle. As season-end burn-ups go, they just don't get any bigger. In fact it's the biggest dirt bike event on the British calendar.
This one's the 27th running and as with all Gareth projects, it's probably going to be the biggest and best yet, with a packed programme of racing and entertainment. Sunday's solo race will obviously be the main attraction on track, but Friday will see a full schedule of mini-bike racing, while the quads and sidecars will be livening things up on track on Saturday. The main solo race will be preceded by youth race on Sunday morning, meaning non-stop action for spectators over the full three days.
Off track entertainment has also been ramped up for this year's Weston Beach Race, with the highlight being an exclusive display by the Red Bull Matadors Aerobatic Team on Sunday, shortly before the start of the solo race.
The two Red Bull Matador pilots, Steve Jones and Paul Bonhomme, will be putting their Zivko Edge 540 planes through a wide repertoire of formation patterns at Weston, including a head-to-head approach at a closing speed of more than 400 mph. The display is definitely not for the faint hearted!
Oh, and there will be live bands Friday and Saturday nights too. The whole thing's become something of a festival and obviously a good one, as Red Bull have signed up to a partnership deal as sponsors to the event for the next three years.
Organiser Gareth Hockey is in fact a former rider of the event himself. He rode the very first one in 1983.
"I rode illegally too – perhaps that's not something I should confess to, nor condone – but I rode that first one aged 13. I rode every year after that up until 1990 and then I got stuck into organising the trade stands for the events. And I took over running the event in its entirety in 2001.
"Of course that first one as an organiser was one hell of a baptism. We had extreme weather for that weekend and ended up postponing for the first and only time in the race's history. We ran it the following weekend instead.”
Grand Prix course designer Justin Barclay had a hand in the design and construction of the course last year and he's back again this year to do the job again. While in the past big man-made dunes have been the calling card of the event – and a stopper for a good 70% of the entry, Barclay has shifted the emphasis a little, by creating a course that keeps the entry flowing as much as possible, but now tests them in other ways too, such as the motocross arena (with technical jumps, whoops and such) in the mid-section of the course. This proved popular with the riders and spectators alike in 2008 and so is destined to return this year.
One of the attractions of the Weston Beach Race is that it's one of the only opportunities in the year for club riders to match themselves against some of the stars of World and British championship racing.
This year they'll be taking on the likes of factory KTM rider, Shaun Simpson, who finished second to Stefan Everts at Weston last year. They'll also be able to pit themselves against the recently crowned British Champions, Brad Anderson and Stephen Sword. Scott Elderfield has also signed up for the race, as has James Noble, who will compete aboard his Proppa.com STR Honda steel framed 500cc two stroke just to make things interesting!
The competition in the solo race will be intense as usual, but the quad race won't be any push over either. This race gets bigger and bigger every year and the four-wheelers now totally swamp the sidecar entry that joins them in the Saturday race. And it seems that following the success of Frenchman Jeremy Warnia in last year's race there's been a spark of interest across Europe – this year entries have come in from France, a whole swathe from Spain, as well as from Eastern Europe. Local favourite and past-winner Paul Winrow will have his work cut out again this year.
The Saturday night entertainment will kick off with a world motorcycle long jump record attempt by Flyin' Ryan (we believe his passport says ‘Ryan Griffiths'). Flyin' Ryan made big news a few years ago with an attempt on the outright jump record (at Donington Park) only to come up spectacularly short, breaking both ankles and countless other bones. Well, Flyin' Ryan didn't let that stop him jumping, although he concedes he's now returned to the old school technique of flat landing (without a down-ramp)... Still sounds mad to us. Anyway, he's pushing to make a serious 175 feet in this attempt.
"It's not easy to get right,” explained Flyin' Ryan. "I've had a previous attempt at this record and we made 142 feet. The problem was I got too high – about 40' – and so made a heavy landing and suffered a good case of whiplash.
"So we've gone back to the drawing board and we've come up with a launch ramp that's about 50 foot long and seven foot high. The plan is to hit that ramp as good as pinned-in-top on our Honda CRF450. The jump will then be long and low.”
And fast.
"Yeah, fast. But I should be able to deal with that.”
We hope so, because Flyin' Ryan is entered in the next day's solo race on the same bike!
So in a nutshell, that's the Weston Beach Race for this year. In case you've missed the news, it's on the weekend 9-11 October in the Somerset seaside resort of Weston-super-Mare. Entry on the Friday is free, and tickets for Saturday and Sunday have been frozen at the same price as last year. Come on down; it will be a real hoot!
For more information on the Weston Beach Race check out the official event website at www.wbruk.com
Event Timetable
Friday 9th October 2009
09.00-18.00 Scrutineering
11.00-17.00 Mini Bike Racing
14.30-21.00 Gareth's Welcome Party
16.00-17.00 World Record Jump Set Up
16.00-17.00 Invitation Demo Razr Race
Saturday 10th October 2009
09.30-10.30 Youth Quad Race
11.00-12.00 Youth 65cc Race
12.30-15.30 Adult Quad/Sidecar Race
16.00-16.30 World Record Jump Attempt
16.30-17.00 Prize Ceremony
17.30-21.00 Gareth's Live Band Party
Sunday 11th October 2009
10.00-11.00 Youth 85cc Race
11.30-12.30 Red Bull Matadors Air Display Team
12.30-15.30 Adult Solo Race
16.00-16.30 Prize Ceremony
17.00 Event Close
Ticket Pricing
In keeping with their aim of making the Weston Beach Race more accessible, especially for families, RHL have set competitive ticket prices for both adults and children. In addition, they have also introduced a family weekend ticket that offers two adults and two children significant savings over the cost of individual tickets.
Advance tickets can now only be purchased from the Weston-super-Mare Tourist Information Centre. To purchase your advance tickets please call the Tourist Information Office on 01934 888 80.
Tickets for the Weston Beach Race will also be on sale at the gate. Please see below for pricing and ticket office opening times.
Advance Ticket Prices
Weekend Adult Admission 30.00
Weekend Child Admission (4-12 years) 7.00
Weekend Family Admission (2 adults+2 children) 68.00
Day Ticket Adult Admission 16.00
Day Ticket Child Admission (4-12 years) 4.00
On The Gate Ticket Prices
Day Ticket Adult Admission 20.00
Day Ticket Child Admission (4-12 years) 5.00
Ticket Office Opening Times
Sat 10 Oct Ticket Office Open 08.00 am
Ticket Office & Gates Closed 15.00 pm
Sun 11 Oct Ticket Office Open 07.30 am
Ticket Office & Gates Closed 14.30 pm